Thursday, March 17, 2005

"Well, it's official. The White House Correspondents' Association has weighed in on 'Gannongate,' saying 'individual episodes' should not prompt a crackdown on credentialing."

So what's with this? Well perhaps this comment makes it clearer:

"We wanted to err on the side of inclusion," Steve Scully of C-SPAN told the L.A. Times. Scully serves on the executive board of the WHCA. "Once you start dictating who is a journalist, you go down a slippery slope."

The White House Press Corps is (and has always been) made up of "approved" insider journalists, and planted stooges. Any focus on "credentialing" would risk creating a truly inclusive process. That would mean the end of the cosy club. No wonder they want to bury the issue.